Massacres in Bel-Air & Cité Soleil Under the Indifferent Gaze of State Authorities
Summary
1. The National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) has investigated the various armed attacks recorded in Bel-Air and Cité Soleil since the end of 2020. The information gathered during these various investigations is used for the preparation of this report through which the RNDDH shares its findings, comments, and recommendations with those interested in the issue.
2. The document is divided into 9 points which review in particular the balance sheet of attacks recorded at Bel-Air from August 2020 to May 2021, the balance sheet of attacks recorded at Cité Soleil from January to May 2021, police interventions and interviews with judicial authorities.
3. For the periods covered by this report, the record of these virulent armed attacks in these two areas is very heavy:
In Bel-Air, at least eighty-one (81) people were murdered by bullets: thirty-six (36) from August to December 2020 and another forty-five (45) from March to May 2021. Eighteen (18) are missing and eighteen (18) have been shot. One hundred sixty-five (165) houses were set on fire, thirteen (13) others were looted, leaving two hundred and sixty-two (262) people who were either owners or tenants affected. Two hundred and ninety-six (296) children became orphans of at least one of their two parents;
In Cité Soleil forty-four (44) people were murdered by bullets, seven (7) are missing, Fifteen (15) were wounded, one (1) woman raped. Three (3) houses were set on fire. One hundred and thirty- two (132) children became orphans in the wake of these recent bloody events.
4. Even today, the attacks are ongoing both in Bel-Air and Cité Soleil and once again the silence of the state authorities proves their total disinterest in the massive and systematic violations of the rights to life and physical security, the private property of the people who live in these deprived neighborhoods where heinous crimes have been perpetrated: People have been burned alive, houses have been set on fire with the meagre possessions of the victims, Vehicles have been hijacked and at least one woman has been raped.
5. Called in reinforcement by survivors of these massacres, PNH agents said they had not received the order from their superiors to intervene and the judicial authorities told the RNDDH that the victims had not filed a complaint, They did not intervene in the areas covered by this report, even in order to draw up reports on the facts reported by the survivors.
6. It was again reported to the RNDDH that police equipment – armored, gas tubes tear gas – were used by armed bandits in the commission of these attacks.
7. From 2018 to the present, at least twelve ( 12) massacres and armed attacks have been carried out in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. In the first 10 cases, the survivors lodged a complaint with the judicial authorities against their aggressors, most of whom were notorious armed bandits and well-known state authorities. However, no legal proceedings were filed.
8. Building on all of the above, the RNDDH urges the State authorities in general and the Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN) in particular: End the use of scarce resources of the PNH to strengthen the armed gangs that terrorize the Haitian population; Punish all those who facilitate the use of police equipment in the various massacres and armed attacks; Put an end to the massacres and armed attacks in Bel Air and Cité Soleil in particular and in disadvantaged neighborhoods in general; Arrest and transfer to the judicial authorities all armed bandits who sow terror among the population